Jack Sibley is the managing partner of the executive committee at Hawkins Parnell & Young, LLP. He previously served on the firm’s policy committee (2001-2012) and as the firm’s managing partner (2009-2012). Jack’s practice focuses on commercial and contract litigation, business torts, trust and estate litigation, and mass tort litigation management as national counsel. He represents corporations and individuals in complex litigation and arbitration. He has taken numerous trials to verdict and through the appellate process.

Professional Experience

Patent and Trademark Disputes

• Obtained preliminary injunction enjoining false advertising activities by defendant under the Federal Lanham Trademark Act and applicable State statutes in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Affirmed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. 
• Won an arbitration contract dispute regarding ownership of patent rights. 

Contract Disputes (Business, Construction, Trusts & Estates, Etc.)

• Obtained a favorable outcome in arbitration resulting in favorable settlement for the client, a general contractor, with recovery of a substantial portion of settlement funds from subcontractors. The matter arose from a construction defect regarding a leaking building.
• Obtained favorable ruling and settlement of complex family trust and estate planning dispute involving family partnership issue in the Fulton County Superior Court. 
• Resolved through litigation and negotiation contract dispute regarding substantial fee for computer software services involving companies and individuals in Georgia, Arizona, and South Africa. 
• Won interlocutory injunction shutting down competing business organized by client’s former employee enforcing non-competition covenants in employment contract.
• Favorable ruling in complex arbitration involving dispute between manufacturer and distributor over a breach of distributorship agreement involving a $26 Million claim. 
• Won court order to arbitrate and arbitration ruling for enforcement of settlement after two years of litigation in claim asserting tortious interference with business relations and breach of fiduciary duty by former employees who started new business. 
• In Connecticut, through Federal Court and arbitration and settlement obtained recovery of fees paid by client against document management provider.
• Received a favorable ruling in a high-profile estate dispute alleging issues of competence and wrongful taking of assets. Plaintiff (father) won back control of over $10 Million in assets from Defendants (children).
• Obtained a defense verdict in a $105 Million public contract dispute filed by an international transportation company alleging improper award of public contract filed against his clients, which was awarded the contract, and the regional transit authority. 
• Favorable settlement in a breach of contract, Fair Business Practice Act and Civil RICO case. Plaintiff (bankruptcy trustee of a cabinet installer) sued Defendant manufacturer for $9 Million. Defense won a summary judgment on the Fair Business Practice Act and Civil RICO claims and then settled the case on favorable terms for the client. 
• Won a defense summary judgment against Plaintiff (general contractor) who contracted with a school district to build a high school and then sued Defendant (construction management firm) for $18 Million, alleging negligence which caused Plaintiff to perform work outside the scope of the contract and go out of business.
• Won a favorable ruling in a family estate dispute in which a claim was filed contesting the Last Will and Testament of the head of a global financial services company based on a pre-existing divorce decree. All trust funds were returned to client.

Product Liability / Toxic Tort

• Defense verdict in asbestos claim before jury in Alameda County, California. Plaintiff alleged his mesothelioma was caused by exposure to asbestos while using defendant’s products. 
• Defense verdict in asbestos claim before jury in Dallas County, Texas. Plaintiff claimed his cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos while using defendant’s products.
• Favorable settlement and award of an arbitration matter of a construction defect claim involving a major college institution. The Petitioner (college) brought a multi-million dollar arbitration case against a joint venture between two general contractors for allegedly defective construction of the college’s administration building. The Firm represented the general contractors and negotiated significant financial contribution from three subcontractors, then during the arbitration hearing settled the college’s claim against the general contractors for less than one third of the claim amount, then continued the arbitration for the general contracts against a subcontractor for indemnification and obtained a significant award in favor of the general contracts.
• Won a defense verdict in a $5 Million claim filed by Plaintiff (manufacturing company) alleging Defendant’s (national paint manufacturer) product was defective by failing to adhere properly to plaintiff’s tire racks. 

Professional affiliations

• State Bar of Georgia
• Atlanta Bar Association
• ALFA International
  • Past Director (2004-2007)
• DRI

Community involvement

• Interdenominational Theological Center (2008-present, Chair, Board of Trustees 2015-2018)
• A.G. Rhodes Homes (Trustee 2009-2018)
• Atlanta Youth Academy (Member Board of Advisors; past Chair)
• Atlanta Youth Academy Foundation (Trustee 2000-2008)
• Warren Wilson College (Trustee 1992-2006)
• Emory University Board of Visitors (Member 2004-2007)
• First Presbyterian Church (Elder, past Chair Annual Campaign; Member, Capital Campaign
• Committee; past Chair, Missions Committee; Chair, Long-Range Planning Committee)
• Psychological Studies Institute (past Board Chairman)
• Christian Television and Film Commission (past Board member)
• Piedmont Driving Club (V.P., President elect, Board of Directors 2016-2018, President 2018-2020)

Honors

• AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®
• The Best Lawyers in America©, Product Liability Litigation (2012-2019)
• Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers Magazine (2004-2019)
• Listed in Who's Who in Law & Accounting, Atlanta Business Chronicle (2009, 2010)
• Listed in Atlanta's Top Law Firm Managing Partners, Atlanta Business Chronicle (2010)
• Listed in Top Attorneys in Georgia, Atlanta Magazine (2011)
• Listed in American Registry as America's Most Honored Professionals (2011)
• Top Rated Lawyer in ‘Trust & Estates,’ American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell (2013)
• Special Edition Judicial Award, Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™

Presentations

• "Alternative Dispute Resolution: Making the System Work for You," Panel Chair, ALFA International Client Seminar (March 2008)
• Trained over 30 local counsel, National Counsel (February 2007 and March 2009)
• "Liability of Trust Officer," Annual State Bar Trust & Estates Seminar (July 2006)
• "Preparing for Litigation: Early Discovery Problems," Construction Management Association of America (September 2005)

Articles and publications

Trials

Previous Page

Practice areas

Education

J.D., University of Georgia School of Law (1975)

• Notes Editor of the Georgia Journal of International Law (1974-1975)

B.A., University of Virginia (1970)

Bar admissions

Courts

• All Georgia State Courts
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
• United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Supreme Court of the United States

News

• Atlanta
• Austin
• Charleston
• Chicago
• Dallas
• Los Angeles
• Napa
• New York
• St. Louis
• San Francisco